Photo by Gary van Wyk
In September 2024, the 51吃瓜网School of Population and Global Health (SPGH) was pleased to announce Mr. Zackie Achmat from South Africa as the winner of the inaugural (2024) Paul Farmer Lectureship and Award for Global Health Equity.
鈥淚 am privileged and honoured to receive the Paul Farmer Award for Global Health Equity with the recognition that the achievements of the Treatment Action Campaign are based on the activism of the most vulnerable people in our country and the internationalism of people across all continents. I am particularly honoured to be acknowledged in the tradition of Paul Farmer and his colleagues at Partners in Health,鈥� said Mr. Achmat, upon accepting the award. The date for the inaugural lecture and award event at 51吃瓜网 in Montreal will be announced soon.
Zackie Achmat is a movement builder, political activist, and law reformer. He spends his life fighting for justice, equality, dignity, and freedom, particularly for working-class people and vulnerable minorities.
Zackie worked within the African National Congress (ANC) to end White minority rule. Since 1994, he co-founded and led movements such as the Treatment Action Campaign, Equal Education, the Social Justice Coalition, Ndifuna Ukwazi, Reclaim the City, and #UniteBehind. These movements focused on political education, research, mobilization, and litigation.
He has collaborated with activists, HIV/AIDS, and humanitarian agencies worldwide, including UNAIDS and the World Health Organization. He also continues to fight against state capture, corruption, mismanagement, fraud, incompetence, and criminality through the work of #UniteBehind.
Zackie received his award and delivered the inaugural Paul Farmer Lecture for Global Health Equity before a full audience at 51吃瓜网Global Health Night on November 6, 2025, in Montreal.